Alyson Winchester: Halloween
by WaywardDaughter18
Summary: Aly's first time going Trick-or-Treating. Fluff and a little bit of angst. Same AU as "The Adventures of Alyson Winchester". Contains spanking- if you don't like it, don't read it.
1. Chapter 1

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: My muse has been very distractible as of late so I haven't been writing much- health issues, dealing with anxiety and depression, etc. But then sometimes I get inspired- and this time I was inspired by Halloween. I hope you enjoy!**

 **If this is your first time reading one of my fanfics, there is a multi-chapter story about Alyson Winchester called "The Adventures of Alyson Winchester" on my page, as well as a sequel and several short stories about Aly at different ages.**

~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~

"Wook at me, Daddy!" Alyson's voice is excited and happy. She holds out her arms and turns slowly.

"Well, look at you," John says, his mouth dry and his throat scratchy. He'd had too much to drink last night, and as a result he was tired and a little out of it.

"I's gonna be a pwincess but De gotted me some wings too, so I's a faiwy pwincess!" She grins up at him proudly.

"That was nice of him," John clears his throat- Alyson is looking like she expects something, and her face falls when he says that.

"Do you wike it?"

Oh. Right, he's supposed to compliment her. She does look cute- the dress looks vaguely like the Disney version of Cinderella, and Dean had explained that he'd been able to find a knock-off version of the costume, so he didn't have to pay an outrageous price. It's a shiny blue fabric with gold trim, and Alyson is wearing a little headband that looks like a tiara made with sparkly plastic beads. She's wearing white satin gloves and carrying a long thin wand with a silver star on the end of it. The wings are blue and pink and have glitter all over them. "Yes, I do, you look very pretty." John tells her.

She smiles again. "Fank you."

Dean comes into the living room, tucking something behind his back. "Get your shoes on so we can go, short stuff."

" 'Kay, De." Aly scampers over to the door and plops down on the floor so she can shove her feet into her tennis shoes.

John walks over to Dean. "You got everything?" He asks quietly, giving Dean a meaningful look.

"Yeah, got holy water in here, and my knife," Dean pats the chest of his denim jacket, "And my gun and ankle holster with silver bullets."

"Good," John says, noting that Dean's eyes brighten when he says that. "You make sure you keep your eyes _peeled_ and watch _everything."_

"Yes sir," Dean says seriously.

John doesn't do Halloween. Now that he knows what is really out there in the world, and that October 31st is the day when the veil between the worlds is the thinnest, he feels that it's unsafe to celebrate and let your guard down. Plus, it's right before the day that is the biggest tragedy in his life, and he's already melancholy about that anniversary coming up.

He had tried to down-play Halloween for the boys, hoping they'd let it go, but schools make a big deal of it, so he still had to buy costumes and candy supplies for class parties. He'd end up grudgingly taking the boys out, carrying Alyson in his arms, with his gun tucked into his pants at his spine, before it got dark. That way there was still enough light to notice anything suspicious. And when they got back to their place, he put up extra warding that night, and stayed up, on the lookout.

Alyson is 4 now, and he'd forgotten how inquisitive that age was. Everything is whywhywhy with her, and she keep asking if you don't answer to her satisfaction. John almost regrets putting her in preschool- he's glad she's learning to spell and count, but she's also bringing home all kinds of questions that he doesn't want to answer, much less think about- where's her Mommy, why did her Mommy die, is she ever coming back, can they go and visit Mommy in heaven, why don't they live in a normal house all the time, why does Daddy go away so much, why does Daddy have a big bag of weapons and a book with scary pictures in it that's she's not supposed to even touch. (He'd spanked her after he caught her with his journal, drawing something on a blank page- _'I dwawed it jus' fuh you!'_ she'd said, but then when she'd started having nightmares he'd felt shitty about spanking her)

And the preschool celebrates every damn holiday out there- there's a big calendar on the wall of the classroom with all of the holidays marked off. The teacher had sent home a "schedule of learning" that detailed what the class would be working on each week and what they'd be studying and what supplies would be needed. They'd need craft supplies for art projects and holiday presents that they were making- he remembers vaguely, Mary going out shopping for stuff when the boys were young. She was a "room mother" for Sam's preschool one year, so she was responsible for planning all the parties, and a couple times had meetings of other moms at their house to plan things out.

Sam comes out the the living room, dressed in a long-sleeved shirt with a fancy vest on, with a ring on a chain around his neck. He's carrying a wooden pipe and a small sword made of cardboard.

"What are you?" John cocks his eyebrow at Sam.

"Duh, I'm Bilbo. A hobbit, Dad," Sam says peevishly when John looks confused.

"A hobbit," John repeats.

"All right, nerd-o, let's go," Dean says, and Sam glares at him.

John walks over to Alyson and leans down. "Alyson. Look at me. You listen to your brother, and do exactly what he says, got it? No arguing."

Another side effect of preschool was attitude- Alyson felt "like a big girl" and insisted she could do more things on her own now, but she also had picked up a certain amount of sass from her classmates, and would argue sometimes. John was able to shut her down quickly, but she still pushed against Dean.

"Ok _ay,"_ she almost huffs, and he catches her chin in his hand. "Listen to me, I'm _serious._ I hear that you didn't listen to Dean, or that you mouthed off, and you'll be getting a spanking, understand?"

She looks upset now, and her chin trembles. He feels crappy that he has to be that stern with her but he doesn't want Alyson arguing with Dean if he says they have to leave quickly.

"Yes Daddy," she whispers.

He lets go of her chin and pats her head. "Good girl. Have fun."

Once the kids have left and the door is closed, he walks over to the cabinet and gets out the bottle of Jack Daniels. The level of amber liquid in it is getting low, but he'd only have a couple shots tonight. Enough to keep the memories and nightmares at bay, but not so much that he couldn't stay vigilant.

The neighborhood they are living in has a few kids in it, and Dean had asked around at school. The good neighborhoods for candy were a couple blocks towards the town, so they walk. It was just after dinner, and it was still light outside. There weren't a lot of kids out yet, mostly toddlers and families with young kids and babies in strollers. The majority of the older kids would come out trick or treating after it got dark.

Alyson hops excitedly as she walks next to Sam, holding his hand. An orange plastic pumpkin container is clutched in her other hand. They walk up their first sidewalk, and Sam rings the doorbell. It's their neighbor, Mrs. Watson. She has a large metal mixing bowl in the crook of her arm, filled with all kinds of candy.

"Oh, my, what do we have here?" she asks delightedly.

Alyson becomes shy suddenly, looking down at her feet.

"Tell her what you are, Aly," Sam shakes her hand.

Alyson glances up, sees that they're all looking at her, and then buries her face in Sam's leg.

"She's a fairy princess," Sam explains.

"Oh, I see. Well, my, you look lovely! You can pick two pieces of candy!"

"Aly, what do you say?" Sam prompts, "Remember?" He had gone over how you were supposed to say trick or treat and hold up your pumpkin.

Aly lets go of Sam and holds her pumpkin up. "Uh- ha-happy haww-"

"No, trick or treat, remember?" Sam reminds her.

"Oh. Uh- t-twick—uh- tweat!"

"Very good, here, you can pick out two," Mrs. Watson leans down and lets Alyson pick out two small candy bars. Sam picks something out and puts it into his pillowcase.

"Say thank you," Sam says

"Fank you!" Alyson chirps, turning to walk down the steps.

She flies into Dean's legs, throwing her arms around him. "I did it, De, I gotted candy!" she crows proudly. "Can I has it?"

"Good job, kiddo. Uh, no, not right now."

Alyson lets go of him and peers into the pumpkin. "But I _want_ some!" she pouts.

"No, we have to go through your candy first."

"Why?"

"To make sure it's safe."

"Why it not be safe?" she frowns.

"Just- Dad said we can't have any until we get home." Dean explains hurriedly, grateful for once that their father was the type of person who had clear- cut rules. Dean had gotten away with saying "Because Dad said so" with both Sam and Alyson more than once, and they knew not to question it further. Their father took being questioned as a sign of insubordination and it usually was not tolerated.

"Aly, gimme your hand," Sam reaches for her.

"But I wanna wun!" She turns away from Sam.

"No, you have to hold my hand, remember?" Sam asks. "Aly!" He calls as she begins to hurry down the sidewalk ahead of them.

"Alyson!" Dean barks out, "Get back here!" He's surprised at how much he sounds like his Dad at that moment.

She stops and turns, walking slowly back to them. Dean is standing still, pointing at the ground right in front of him. She goes and stands there, looking down at the ground with a guilty look on her face.

"What are the rules?" Dean asks. As they had begun walking, he had told her how it was going to be.

"Uh—uhh- hol' hans, an' don't, don't wun ahead. Wissen to you an' do what you says. No fwowin' a fit when it time ta go home."

"Right." Dean is surprised that she remembered it all. "You need to stay with Sam and hold his hand, all right?"

She nods, her finger in her mouth.

"What's that?" he doesn't want to be a hard-ass like their dad, but he wants her to be safe, tonight especially.

"Yes De," she says softly.

"Good. Okay, let's go."

Since the majority of kids that are out are younger, there are a lot of animal costumes and cartoon characters that were popular with the preschool crowd. Sometimes the parents catch Dean's eye and nod, and he nods back. Alyson points out everything she sees, laughing happily at all the different costumes.

Alyson's pumpkin slowly fills up with candy, and she becomes very comfortable with asking, shouting "Twick-a- Tweat!" as the door opens. There was a mild flap when a little boy about her age and she were walking up the sidewalk at the same time, and the boy muscled his way past her and pushed her. The boy's parents had scolded him and let Alyson go first to get some candy.

And then Alyson sees a kid with a lollipop in his mouth. "I want one," she whines. Dean tells her no, and she continues to whine.

She shoves her hand into her pumpkin, pulling out a handful of candy. "I wanna eat somefin'!" she stomps her foot.

"I said no," Dean says sternly, "Give me that."

She pulls the pumpkin away from him. "Noooo!"

"I'll carry it for now," Dean's voice is firm.

"No, I wanna cawwyyyyyy!" she whines, tears coming to her eyes, "I wanna candyyyyyyy!"

"Alyson, NO," Dean is getting annoyed now, and he tries to pull the container out of her hands. "If you don't stop, I'm gonna-"

She jerks it away from him, and he grabs her arm and swats her bottom. "Oww!" she howls, tears spilling out of her eyes. She lets go of the pumpkin and puts her hand back to cover her rear.

The pumpkin tumbles to the ground and candy spills everywhere. Sam crouches down to scoop it back into the pumpkin.

Alyson turns, her fist rubbing her eye, and then trips and falls. There is a large tree in the yard, and the roots have grown up out of the ground and pushed the sidewalk up in a couple of places.

She goes down with a scream, and Dean rushes over to her. Her cries change to howls of pain as he lifts her up.

"You okay?" he asks with concern. She holds her hands up- the palms are scraped and red. Then he notices the skirt has a huge rip in it, and there is blood on her knee.

"My dweeeeeesssss!" she wails, "It wipped-ed!"

"All right, maybe we can fix it," Dean says comfortingly, "Let me look at your knee."

Alyson just then notices her knee. She lets out a shriek and begins to cry harder. It's a small scrape, but it's bleeding pretty heavily.

"C'mon, kiddo, let's get you home."

"Don't wanna goooo!"

"You're bleeding, and I don't have any band-aids."

"I wanna staaaaay!" she howls.

He picks her up. "I think we've had enough fun for one night. Let's go home and fix up your knee, and you can have a couple pieces of candy."

"Wanna get more!" she sobs.

"What kind of candy do you want to eat?" Sam asks, to distract her. "I think I'm gonna eat a Snickers bar and a Milky Way."

It works, and Aly begins to talk about candy as they walk back to their neighborhood. Dean holds her carefully, making sure that the fabric of the dress doesn't get bled on.

In all the hub-bub, they don't notice the dark shape that is following them, slipping from shadow to shadow in each yard.


	2. Chapter 2

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hi all! Just a reminder, Alyson's story takes place in an AU. She is 8 years younger than Sam and 12 years younger than Dean, and Mary died when Aly was 6 months old. (I wrote about that night in the fic "Alyson Winchester: Fire") In this fic, Aly is 4 years old, Sam is 12 years old, and Dean is 16 years old.**

 **CONTENT WARNING: Spanking and mention of animal death.**

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John watches his children dividing their candy up. It's finally quiet and calm, when they came home Alyson had been wailing about her injured knee. Dean had given her a lollipop to distract her while John was examining and cleaning the wound. There had been more tears over her costume- the skirt had a huge rip up the front, and the fabric was cheap polyester that John didn't think could be patched up.

Alyson and Sam are sitting cross-legged on the floor, their candy spread out in front of them. Dean is laying on his side facing them, his head propped on his hand, and all three are engaged in an animated discussion about which is the best candy bar.

John smiles to himself- even though Dean had acted like he was "too old" to dress up this year, he was still a kid at heart, and he had gotten a kick out of buying a costume for Alyson and taking them out trick-or-treating.

"Are you done making all your trades?" John walks over to them. "I think it's time for little people to get to bed."

"One more, Daddy, pleeeeeease?" Alyson looks up, giving John her best puppy-dog eyes. She's already taken a page out of Sam's book, and she looks even more pitiful than he can.

"No, kiddo, you already had two pieces of candy," John had allowed her two after she'd finished with the lollipop.

Alyson sighs with disappointment. "Oh-kaaay." She begins to scoop her candy up and put it back into her pumpkin.

"Dean, carry me," she stands up and goes over to him, plopping down on his hip.

"Oof!" He grunts, and then grabs her as he sits up. "All right then," he stands up, holding Alyson, and then turns her upside down. She shrieks and giggles as he walks to the bathroom holding her by her ankles.

"Okay, ready?" He swings her back and forth, and she screams. He pretends to throw her, but instead of letting go he turns her upright and sets her on her feet.

She hops in place and claps her hands. "Again, Dean, again!"

"No, not again, it's time to settle down," John admonishes. "I want you to brush your teeth extra well since you just had candy." He puts toothpaste on her toothbrush and watches as she diligently brushes her teeth.

She runs out of the bathroom as John is rinsing off her brush, and Sam and Dean spend a few minutes chasing her around the living room and kitchen.

"All right, it's time to settle down," John says as he comes out to the living room. He has to get stern with all three of them, since the boys continue to rough-house with their sister. Finally, Alyson is tucked into bed and quiet.

~ ~ spn ~ ~

Sam is in the shower and Dean is in the bedroom that they share. John walks to his room to grab his journal, but can't find it-it must be in the trunk. On his way up the hall, he stops at Alyson's door.

She is a lump under the covers, almost completely under the blankets except for the top of her head. He watches her for a moment, glad that she's finally asleep. She'd been so riled up earlier he thought it would be harder to put her to bed, but she had gone willingly.

He starts to turn away when a movement catches his eye. Alyson shifts in the bed and something falls out from under the covers, onto the floor. A piece of paper, bright red with blue lettering. A candy wrapper?

John swiftly walks over to the bed and yanks the covers down. Alyson sits up, chewing something that makes a crunching sound, a guilty look on her face.

John is shocked- the bed next to her is littered with empty candy wrappers. She has smears of chocolate around her mouth and on her hands.

"H- hi, Daddy," she ducks her head and peers at him from under her bangs.

"Don't you 'hi' me, little girl," he says tightly, gesturing to the bed. "What is all this?"

She blushes bright red, squirming. "I dunno."

"I dunno is not an answer. Are you supposed to be eating in bed? After you've been put to bed?"

She shakes her head.

"How many pieces of candy were you allowed to have earlier?"

"T-two," she says miserably, holding up two fingers.

"And how many did you eat?" he gestures at the bed again.

Tears come to her eyes. "Wots an' wots," she whispers.

He puts his hands on his hips. "You are in trouble- not only did you eat all of your candy, you snuck it into your bed! I'm surprised at you, Alyson!"

Her eyes get big and she looks scared.

"Sneaking candy in bed is like lying. Are you supposed to lie?"

She shakes her head.

"Use your words," he says in a hard voice.

"N-no, Daddy," her lower lip wobbles.

"You _know_ that I don't like lying. We do not lie in this family." He sits down on the edge of the bed. "You have earned yourself a spanking," he reaches for her, and she wails, "No! No spanks!" And bursts into tears.

He picks her up out of bed, candy wrappers falling off of her lap onto the floor, and lays her face down over his lap.

Her voice is panicked as she realizes that he's going to give her a spanking and not just a couple of swats. "No, Daddy, pwease!" She kicks her legs and squirms.

He puts his hand on her lower back to hold her there. "You do not sneak candy into bed," he says sternly, bringing his hand down on her bottom.

"Owww!" she howls, kicking harder as he spanks her. "Be still!" He snaps as he brings his hand down again.

Because she is so small, and his hand is large, her whole rear end has been spanked thoroughly after he's given her only a few swats. She is wailing now, her chest heaving.

"Are you going to do that again?" He asks.

"N-no, D-d-daddy," she sobs.

He gives her one last swat, and then lifts her up onto his lap. She throws her arms around his neck and cries into his shoulder. "I sowwy I's baaaaad!" She wails.

"All right," he hugs her tightly. "You're not bad, you misbehaved, and you got into trouble for it," he kisses her wet cheek, and then rubs his hand up and down her back. "It's okay now."

"I not bad?" Her voice is shaky.

"No, you're not."

"Is you mad at me?" This was a new concept that Alyson had mastered, someone getting mad at her. Some of her classmates at preschool would use it to get their way, and she didn't like it when people got mad, especially at her.

"No, Pumpkin, I'm not mad."

She sniffles and turns her head to rest it on his shoulder, and he kisses her again. "I want you to brush your teeth again."

Dean comes to the door and sees the trash all over the floor. He raises his eyebrows at John as John walks past him with Alyson in his arms.

After she's brushed her teeth, and John has wiped her face, he has her clean up all the wrappers, and then tucks her back into bed. He expects that all that sugar is going to make her wired again, but she stays in bed.

~ ~ spn ~ ~

A high-pitched scream startles John out of a sound sleep. He sits up with a jerk, trying to pinpoint where the sound is coming from. The bedroom. He runs down the hall, pushing the door open.

Alyson is thrashing on the bed, waving her arms and kicking her legs. She screams again, and this time there are words. "No! No! Go 'way! Noooo!"

John hears footsteps and turns his head- Dean is hurrying down the hallway towards him.

He goes into the bedroom and sits down on the edge of the bed. He leans over and puts his hand on Alyson's shoulder. "Alyson," he says gently. "Alyson, wake up." He shakes her slightly, and she kicks her legs. "Noooo—uhhhhh!" She groans, turning her head from side to side. Her face is shiny with sweat and her damp hair sticks to her neck.

"Alyson," he raises his voice slightly, "Wake up, Come on, wake up." He shakes her again.

She starts, and then opens her eyes. Her eyes dart frantically around the room and then focus on him. "Dada?" she asks hoarsely. She sits up, peering at his face. Then she bursts into tears and begins to babble, but she is talking so fast John can barely make out what she's saying.

She slips back into "toddler speak" too, which she does when she gets upset, mispronouncing words that she had long since said correctly.

John picks her up and settles her on his lap. The little girl is soaked with sweat, her pajamas damp to the touch. She grips the front of his t-shirt as she talks. The only things he can make out were "gonna get me" and "scary man".

"Shh, you're safe." John tells her soothingly. "There's no one here, and nothing bad is going to happen." He looks over at Dean and motions with his head. Dean nods and leaves the room, and John knows he'll be checking the salt lines and that all the doors and windows are closed and locked.

"Dada it hewe!" She clings to him, her whole body shaking with fear.

"No, there's nothing here except me and you and your brothers. And we're all going to protect you," John rubs her back.

Dean comes into the room. "All clear." He pauses. "A couple of lights across the street are out, but I know there's been problems with one of the transformers."

Aly starts to cry again, twisting on John's lap as if she is trying to burrow into him. He hugs her tightly. "Dada, yewwow! Yewwow dunna det me!" She wails.

"What?" He mutters. It doesn't make sense. "Nothing's going to get you, sweetheart, I'm here, and I'll protect you. Dean, can you grab some pjs?"

Dean gets out a fresh nightgown and underpants and brings them over. "Sam's got a bad headache, I'm gonna go check on him." He leaves the room.

It takes John a few minutes to convince Aly to let go of him so that he can change her out of her damp pajamas. She grabs hold of him tightly, and he stands up. "Let's go get you some water, hm?" Sam had gone through a period of having nightmares when he was younger, and Mary had read something that suggested that you take the child into a different room to distract them.

As they walk into the living room, there is a loud bang against the front of the house.

Alyson jumps in John's arms and screams, bursting into tears again. Dean comes rushing into the living room. He has to pry her off of John's chest, and she shrieks in his arms as John opens the front door.

The transformer at the end of the block blows in a shower of sparks and another loud bang. John has his gun out, and he steps out onto the front porch carefully. After he looks around, he sees what must have made the bang against the house.

A large black bird is dead on the ground, in front of the windows, wings splayed out like an angel, it's head twisted to the side. He can barely see anything, since most of the street lamps are out. He has a weird feeling- it seems very quiet and there is a stillness in the air like just before a thunderstorm. John's skin breaks out in goosebumps and the hair on the back of his neck rises as he walks around the house.

Later, after several years of hunting, John will come to recognize this as what happens when there is a demonic presence nearby, but at this time, he hasn't had that much experience with that part of the supernatural yet.

There is nothing else amiss, and John comes back inside. He makes sure the front door is locked, and checks in with Dean, who reports that everything is okay inside.

Alyson is practically beside herself with fear, and after John takes her again, she doesn't let go. She falls asleep in his arms as he paces the living room, her hands fisting his flannel tightly.

He has to carefully prise her hands off of his shirt before he can put her back into bed. Then he goes to check on the boys.

Dean is sitting on the edge of Sam's bed, rubbing Sam's head.

John comes over to them. "How we doing, champ?" He asks quietly.

Sam slits his eyes open and peers up at John. "M' head-hurts bad. Feels like something's stepping on it." He mumbles.

"Did you give him anything, Dean?" John asks.

Dean shakes his head. "Haven't had a chance to."

John gets some ibuprofen and a glass of ice water for Sam. "Hit the rack, Dean, I'll sit with him," John says as he hands Sam the medicine. He sits on the edge of the bed, rubbing Sam's head and back, until the boy is asleep.

He does one last walk-through of the house, checking the salt lines and that everything is locked. Even though he knows that Dean was thorough, he can't help but double-check, and he still has a sense of unease.

He watches Aly sleep for several minutes, and then checks on the boys again. Both seem to be sound asleep. He tries to sleep, but finally gets up after tossing and turning for what seems like hours, and goes back out to the kitchen.

John knows what's coming- the anniversary of Mary's death, the hardest day to get through- and so he attributes his discomfort to that. He pours himself a couple fingers of whiskey and goes to stand by the window in the living room. He can't shake the disquiet, though- that nagging feeling gnawing at him. Something is targeting them, something is after his children. But what?


End file.
